Shooting Star
by Reid Phantom
Summary: Four years after Dipper's death, Mabel goes to visit his memorial and gets a surprise. Sequel to Pine Tree.


**I've been getting a lot of requests to continue this, so here we go. I only had vague outlines of this part and one other when I posted Pine Tree, so as of right now it's only going to be a three-parter. If I get more ideas for it or if anyone want to send in prompts or something I'll add more though.**

* * *

It was a cloudy, but warm early June day when a bright pink jeep pulled up next to the busses that were parked in the parking lot of the Mystery Shack. Out of the vehicle stepped a young woman of sixteen. The top half of her long, curly hair was a vivid hot pink and pulled up into a ponytail while the other, chestnut colored half was loose, falling to just above her waist. She wore a violet gypsy skirt and a grey knitted sweater that featured two saxophones, one blue and the other pink, with the words "Hi, I'm Bisaxual!" written around them. She also wore a pair of rainbow-colored hiking boots.

Mabel Pines grabbed her two duffle bags and backpack out of the back seat of her jeep before slamming the door shut and locking the vehicle. She marched through the parking lot and threw open the door to the gift shop. She tossed her bags to the side and screamed, "I'm ba-ack!" before dropping to her knees just in time to catch the squealing pig that barreled into her. She laughed and nuzzled the animal. "Hey waddles, I missed you too buddy," she giggled, pressing a kiss to his head.

A hand came into view and Mabel smiled up at it's owner. "Hey Soos," she said, accepting the hand and letting the man pull her to her feet. She brushed herself off and sent a smile to the teen behind the register. "Hey Grenda. I figured you would be off in Austria by the time I got here."

"Naw, I don't leave for another week. Marius had some work he wanted to get done before I came over," the large girl said, glancing over in between customers. "Besides, I didn't want to miss seeing you. It's been forever!"

Mabel frowned and glanced down at her feet. "Yeah," she sighed.

Soos put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Come on, Hambone. I'll help you carry your stuff up to your room. Mr. Pines should be done with his tour by the time we get done."

Mabel gave him a small smile as he stepped away to pick up her duffle bags. She picked up her backpack and said, "Thanks, Soos."

The two slipped out of the gift shop and into the personal areas of the home business.

"Is Melody all moved in now?" Mabel asked.

"Yeah," Soos said, smiling. He had proposed to his longtime girlfriend a few months earlier. The wedding wasn't for another year still, but she had decided to move back to Gravity Falls to live with her fiancé since she had finished her studies and could start teaching at Gravity Falls Elementary in the Fall.

"I am so happy for you Soos," Mabel cheered. "I can still help plan the wedding right?"

"Of course, we wouldn't have any other wedding planner," Soos said, shouldering open the door to the attic bedroom. "It's because of you guys that we're -" He cut off as he realized what he had said.

Mabel's eyes darted to the bed on the left side of the room.

"I - Mabel, I'm…"

"It's fine, Soos. I-I'm fine," she sighed, walking over to her bed and dropping her backpack on it. Soos set down her bags and pulled her into a hug. She returned it for a moment before saying, "I'm good, Soos. Can I just - Can I have some time to myself?"

Soos frowned but pulled away. He was never good at this type of thing. "Sure, Hambone, we're all downstairs if you need us. Wendy got back from college yesterday so she should be by soon."

"Cool," Mabel said, giving him a smile they both knew wasn't real. She held it up until Soos had left. She walked over to the unused bed and layed down on it. She faced the wall and her fingers came up to trace the pine tree that was carved into the wood. She wasn't sure where it came from. It hadn't been there when she had been twelve. She had found it when she was fourteen. It wasn't the only one. There were little carvings just like it all around the shack, hidden from view unless you were looking for them. She had considered that Grunkle Stan had been the one to do them, his own way of dealing with… But he didn't really seem like the type to go around carving things into his walls and ceilings.

Mabel placed her hand flat against the carving and closed her eyes as tears slipped free from them. "I miss you ," she whispered, wrapping her other arm around herself.

It had been four years since she had found - since her brother had died. The official story, meaning the one only her parents believed, was that her brother had been hiking and misstepped, tumbling off a mountain path down to the forest floor below. Of course, the rest of Gravity Falls - Mabel included - knew Dipper much better than her parents. They knew he had known the forest like the back of his hand after a summer of exploring. The only reason he would have fallen was because something - some creature - gave him no choice. Mabel had wanted to go after what it was that had killed her brother, but her parents had shown up before she could, taking both her and her brother's corpse back to California. Dipper had been buried and Mabel hadn't been allowed to go to Gravity Falls the next summer. She had only been allowed to come the summer she was fourteen for a week and the summer after that for two weeks, and both summers had been chaperoned by her parents. She knew her parents didn't blame Grunkle Stan, but she also knew Grunkle Stan still blamed himself and her parents actions didn't help. This would be her first summer without her parents and she was hoping to make him feel better. Which means she needs to get up and start spreading the happy!

She pulled her hand off the carving and gave it a teary smile. "I still miss ya Bro-bro, but I'll be okay. We all will be." She blew the carving a kiss before getting off the bed. She walked out of the room, heading for the bathroom to wash her face before she tracked down her grunkle.

* * *

While Dipper's _official_ funeral had been in Piedmont, Mabel felt his real funeral had been in Gravity Falls. The funeral in Piedmont had been a stiff, boring event attended by friends of the twins' parents, family from their mother's side (who the twins had never been close to since the twins were "too weird"), and classmates from school that Mabel knew had either not spoken a word to Dipper or the words they had shared were not kind. On the other hand, the Gravity Falls one, while more somber, was also more festive. It was held in the clearing where Dipper had - where Mabel had found him. Stan, Wendy, and Soos (Dipper's family) had been there, along with Tambry, Lee, Nate, Thompson, and Pacifica (Dipper's friends). Wendy's family, Abuelita, and Melody had come too; as had Robbie, Candy, Grenda, Old Man McGucket, Lazy Suzan, Sheriff Blubs, Deputy Durland, and a few other citizens of Gravity falls that Dipper had helped over the course of the summer. Mabel hadn't been able to go, but she had been there in spirit thanks to both Melody and Pacifica holding a skype call with her through the whole thing and Tambry sending her a real time play-by-play of everything that happened and was said via text. Wendy, Soos, and Robbie had also each video taped the entire thing and sent the videos to her. It wasn't much, really. There wasn't any kind of ceremony like the one in Piedmont. Mostly people just hung around the campfire that had been set up, sharing stories and saying goodbye. Wendy carved a sort of memorial into one of the nearby trees - the Big Dipper with the letter's D.P. underneath - and people left flowers or little gifts. It was simple, but intimate. Dipper would have loved it.

The twins might have grown up in Piedmont, but Gravity Falls had become their home during that summer, especially for Dipper. He'd never had friends before Gravity Falls. All he'd had was Mabel and his books. But Gravity Falls had opened him up in ways Mabel had never imagined. She knew, had he made it to the end of the summer, he would have hated to leave and would have spent most of the school year awaiting the time they'd be able to return.

That was part of the reason why she hated visiting Dipper's grave in the cemetery. It was sad thinking of him trapped underground with nothing to do. The memorial was much easier. She could picture him spending all his time exploring the woods. That would have made him happy. Every chance she got while in Gravity Falls, she had snuck over to the memorial to talk to her brother.

Her parent's hadn't felt the same. The moment Mabel had returned to Gravity Falls after Dipper's accident, she had dragged her parent's to the memorial. Her mother had complained, of course. "A carving in a tree is hardly a memorial," she had pointed out, along with the fact they hadn't used Dipper's _actual_ initials (M.R.P. for Mason Robin Pines). She refused to listen when Mabel explained that everyone in Gravity falls knew Dipper as Dipper and no one aside from Grunkle Stan actually knew his real name. Her dad had just pointed out the pine tree that had been carved underneath his initials, much like the ones that were hidden around the shack. "Is that supposed to be a joke?" When Mabel told them it hadn't been a part of the original memorial, it just set off her mother again. "See, look how easy it is to vandalize a tree. If they're going to memorialize him, the least they could do is use a plaque or something." The twins parents hadn't been back to the memorial since then.

* * *

Mabel shoved her sketchbook and colored pencils into her purse and raced downstairs with the bouquet of flowers she had picked up on the way to the Mystery Shack the day before in her arms.

"I'm heading out," she called, peaking into the living room to see her Grunkle adjusting his bow tie.

"Try not to do anything too stupid."

Mabel smiled at her great uncle's version of worrying. "I'll be careful."

"Yeah yeah, just be back by noon... You're making lunch."

"I will," Mabel said, heading for the door.

"And tell your brother I miss him."

Mabel froze and glanced over her shoulder. The words were quiet enough that she almost hadn't caught them. "What was that, Grunkle Stan?"

He glared up at her. "I didn't say anything."

Mabel snorted and rolled her eyes. "Sure, of course you didn't."

She laughed and left the Shack to the sound of grumbling about "Stupid, sarcastic teenagers" and "hearing things."

Mabel marched up the trail towards the memorial, she went over everything she planned to tell Dipper. It really hadn't been an interesting year. Pacifica had flown down during winter break though. She had finally worked up the nerve to tell her parents they were dating. As Mabel made the last turn, she called out, "Hey there Dip-" She cut off as she noticed the stranger standing in front of Dipper's tree. "Oh, uh, hello."

The stranger was short. They wore a silver-blue hooded jacket with a dark blue vest over, black cargo shorts, and silver-blue sneakers. The hood of the jacket was pulled up, but Mabel could see the bill of a black baseball cap peaking out. They peaked over their shoulder for just a second before turning back to the tree. "Get lost."

Mabel blinked at the distinctly male voice, a small bit of anger rising in her. "Excuse me?"

"Get. Lost," he repeated slowly, as if she was stupid.

"Yeah, no. How about you get lost?" Mabel growled, stomping forwards. It was then that she noticed that he was scratching something into the center of the pine tree carving. "Hey, stop that!" she shouted, dropping the flowers and shoving the stranger.

He whipped around to face her and Mabel unconsciously took a step back. His irises glowed a bright, pine green. His pupils were slits. His teeth were too sharp. He wasn't human. She swallowed, but stood tall, glaring down - down because she was taller by two inches - at him.

He just smirked. "I don't know whether you're really brave or just stupid," he chuckled. "But here's some advice, human. Don't try that again."

Mabel shivered. "I'm not afraid of you."

"You would be if you knew who I was." He suddenly frowned, tilting his head to the side, more so than what was probably possible for a human without snapping ones neck. "You know, you look familiar. Do you live in Gravity Falls?"

Mabel blinked at the sudden change. "I - No, I'm just visiting for the summer. I'm staying at the Mystery Shack."

"The Mystery Shack?"

"Yeah, my great uncle's the one who runs it."

The stranger just stared at her, his eyes slowly narrowing. Disconcerted, she opened her mouth to say something -

\- only to suddenly find herself pinned to the memorial tree by her neck.

"Who are you?" he hissed as she grabbed his wrist. His eyes had shifted to a violent red and his hand had become claws.

"Let me go!" She shouted.

"Who are you?" he repeated, pressing down on her neck. "Why did you come to this clearing?"

Shivering as she felt claws dig at the skin on her neck, Mabel scratched at his wrist and choked out, "M-Mabel. My name's Mabel Pines. This is my brother's memorial."

The stranger frowned releasing her. He backed away as Mabel rubbed her neck. She watched him, confused. His eyes turned back to green and he looked… lost.

As he continued to backup, his body flickered a few times then disappeared, leaving a little pine tree floating at chest height.

Mabel gasped as she recognized the shape's resemblance to a familiar symbol. "Dipper?" she whispered, reaching towards him.

The pine tree's single eye, which had been darting around, focused on her. He glared, silver-blue turning red. "You're lying!" his voice echoed through the clearing before he disappeared in a flash of green flames.

Mabel's hand fell and she wrapped her arms around herself. _Could it really be true?_

She turned her head to look at the memorial and carved inside the pine tree symbol was a single eye.


End file.
